I recall Ed Erickson (Esther McAffee's and Virginia Francis' dad) saying, "Fox Island has the best dirt roads in Pierce County!" This was back when the only paved sections of road ran from the school house (Nichols Center) to the church on the water, and then as far down the old bulkhead road to Shorewood. The center lines were painted by hand by two men in about two days, and it was evident by the crookedness of the line when these painters got tired. The only sign for years on the Island was located by the Ferry Landing which said, "Slow Children" and had silhouettes of a boy and girl rolling a hoop. The only road that had a sign was located on what is now 7th Avenue. It used to be called Adams Road. Of course, there wasn't much need for fancy roads, signs, etc. because there probably weren't more than 100 full-time residents. When you consider the fact that the only places to go were the Ferry Landing, the church, the school, the Sylvan Store and Post Office, or the dump, the need for paved roads and signs wasn't all that necessary. You could reach all the places mentioned above, except the dump, on the paved section of road. About once every two or three years a road grader would scrape the dirt sections of road, and these roads were fairly smooth and dust and mud free. Considering the fact that the Island probably doesn't have more than an inch of topsoil until you hit hardpan, all you really needed to do to build a road was to scrape off the topsoil.

There used to be a road known as "Cat's Alley" which connected what is now 6th Avenue with what is now 7th Avenue. Back in "the good old days" this one way dirt road was a shortcut from Ketner's Point to Sylvan (the store, post office & church) and went by Willard Ketner's, "old man" Bloom's barn and chicken house, and ran between the Bloom's and Cook's house. Toward the Ketner's Point part of Cat's Alley was a bicycle path that wound its way through a bunch of tall skinny trees. This path was designed (by nature) so that if you rode your bicycle, it paid to be cautious or else you'd catch your handlebars on a tree, or even worse, just plain run head on with a tree. I am here to tell you, my little body got ruined many times while riding through that path. It was a matter of going too fast and zigging when I should have zagged.

Once in a while somebody would show a movie at the school house, and all us kids (about 15 to 25) would be sure to attend. On one such occasion, after seeing a film about Custer's Last Stand, I naturally came home through Cat's Alley since I lived by the church. Since I had been through the bicycle path countless times in the daytime, I figured it would be almost as easy at night. The problem was, there wasn't a moon that night, and about 20 feet into the path I ran into a tree. It was pitch black in there with about 250 feet left to go until I hit the road, so I decided to go back out the way I'd come in. After bumping into countless trees, and crashing through the brush for about 20 minutes, I decided I was hopelessly lost. I had resigned myself to staying wherever I was until daylight, which was about six hours away, when I heard an animal (probably a deer) crunching through the underbrush. Not wanting to be the first person on Fox Island to be eaten by a bear, I quickly changed my mind about spending the night in the woods. I got on my hands and knees and started crawling as fast as I could. About 15 seconds later I hit the packed dirt of Cat's Alley. I stood up and started running as fast as I could. Smoke was virtually coming off my bare feet, and I didn't slow down till I got home. The reason I remembered what the film I saw that night was about is that when I got home I looked and felt like the only survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn!